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A third-culture kid (TCK / 3CK) or trans-culture kid is"someone who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in one or more cultures other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture."

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Introduction to Canadian Politics

After an exciting year back in
Canada's capital, most of the initial reverse culture shock had been
successfully overcome. Dad had returned to that oddly shaped Pearson Building
on Sussex Drive, the same headquarters where he began his career in Foreign
Affairs many leagues ago. Brian and I were in the Lycée Claudel, enjoying our
friends, afterschool activities and occasional outings. Maman was masterfully
keeping the peace on the home front and working as a language interpreter for
the city of Ottawa, remaining true to her multitasking nature. The toughest
hurdle perhaps for all of us was getting reacquainted with Old Man Winter. The
cold white tundra was more welcoming when we vacationed in Ontario while on our
holiday high through the magic of Christmas. I will always admire my fellow
Canadians for their fighting spirit, intestinal fortitude and clinical analysis
as they tackle the season and the minus thirties Celsius in top form. Since I
left Ottawa with my family back in 1986, something in my genetic code seems to
be deleted from the programming as my body has never seemed to find a way to
readjust to these extreme temperatures. Every new winter season feels much
longer than the last and summers shorter. After this first year, October of 93
came along where I was reunited with one of my old friends from Santiago:
Democracy. This was the autumn of Canada's 35th federal election and the stakes
were high for the ruling Conservatives.

View of the Parliament from Gatineau, Quebec

The historic political rivalry in
our Canadian Constitutional Monarchy has seen the Tories (or Progressive
Conservatives) and the Liberal Party with a clear advantage over the rest of
Canada's political parties. All of our Prime Ministers since Confederation in
1867 have originated from either of the two political parties until the 2004
elections. Prior to 1993, the Tories had enjoyed two back-to-back majority
governments with Brian Mulroney - a majority government is when a party
controls over 50 percent of the seats in the House of Commons. As a matter of
fact, when Mulroney's party won the 1984 elections, it was recorded as the
biggest ever majority government in the country's history, winning a majority
of seats in every province. His party included socially conservative populists
in the West, fiscal conservatives in Atlantic Canada and Ontario and Quebec
nationalists, another reason for his moderately successful reelection in 1988.
However, the rise to power is as monumental as the party's ensuing fall from
grace. As the recession opened the door of Canadians' homes, sat in their
living room as the unwelcome guest eating away at families' budgets, voters
turned to The Government seeking concrete answers to their overwhelming
financial burden. Unemployment increased dramatically and the federal budget
went on a journey to the centre of the earth, holding federal debt by its hand
toward the darkness below. Among the best contingency plans brought forth
Mulroney's government was the Goods and Services Tax (or GST if you prefer,
recently becoming HST) which made Canadians extremely overjoyed since its
inception. Imagine yourself struggling to make ends meet, and now you have to
pay more through an additional tax for anything you buy. Curiously, during this
last economic downturn that many economists avoid using that word,
"recession" - although it
seems more like a new Great Depression - hard working families were slapped
across the face and their bank account with a brand new tax. The HST I just mentioned.

From the kick-off of the seven
week long political campaigning, my father watched the in-depth CBC news
coverage with Peter Mansbridge, keeping track of the groundbreaking news. I
joined in with a keen interest after my homework was completed. I had avidly
supported the Chilean electoral process back in the day, but this time, the
elections were on home turf. I was convinced the democratic carnival and the
accompanying euphoria of elections was about to explode throughout Canada from
coast to coast. Moreover, it appeared that the Conservatives had imploded in
the aftermath of Mulroney's last mandate. The failure of this so-called grand
coalition, previously instrumental in their landmark victory back in 84, was
crumbling to pieces. The main federal head-to-heads continued to feature the
Liberals and the PCs (not to be confused with the President's Choice Brand from
the Loblaws supermarkets which do in fact have delicious products for sale.
Give them a try if you have not done so yet), yet there were emerging forces
working against the conservatives' mojo. The Western social conservatives
formed the Reform Party of Canada, with Alberta as their stronghold, and Quebec
conservative cabinet minister, Lucien Bouchard severed ties only to conceive
his beloved Bloc Québécois, enlisting some Ministers fellow Conservative and
sympathetic Liberal from ridings in Quebec. As a proud French-Canadian,
Franco-Ontarian, Francophone Citizen of the World, I could not comprehend why
this party was necessary and why it did not represent all French-Canadians. I
was well aware my main language was under-represented in government agencies,
departments and institutions, even in the nation's capital. So many people
claimed to be bilingual but in fact could not fully communicate in French. It
was unimaginable the fact that anyone was set to abandon their commitment to
the Canadian Federation, established between French and English Canadians. I
had been raised to respect differences and extend a hand in friendship to good
people, regardless of their background. The whole planet was my country. The BQ
had never hidden its secessionist agenda and their politicians were quick to
demonize English Canada - in my household, representing my father. Last but not
least were the New Democrat Party of Canada, lead by Yukon MP Audrey McLaughlin
representing a more left-leaning following.

The reality that was that I could
not vote or influence decision-making. I did however understand that momentum
was swinging in favour of Jean Chrétien and the Liberals, with many voters
considering the party as a refreshing change and the only contenders presenting
tangible ideas. They had launched their campaign promoting the Red Book, a
document detailing exactly what a Liberal government would do in power. Perhaps
during their long foray in the land of opposition politics, having won few
seats in the house, they had enough time to concentrate on drafting this
document meticulously to present it to the public at the right place and time.
The Liberals also presented in my mind as a preferred option through their
branding, ideal for people with little to no political savvy. The word Liberal,
as was presented to the public, written in red with a maple leaf on the logo,
made me identify this as patriotic. A similar example, the Mexican Partido
Revolucionario Institucional, using the green, white and red on their logo -
the Mexican flag. To those uninformed folk, it makes the most sense to cast
their vote for something they see as a national symbol, therefore a patriotic
duty. Colours are important. This is how MacDonald's manages to attract
customers as the colours and the brand are designed to gain people's attention
yet make them want to leave once they have eaten. Pretty clever. Anyway, before
I deviate further, my political opinion at the time was what my university
professor Nacho Lago would have qualified as punishing the ruling party. I
considered the conservatives had buried the country into a deep sacrificial pit
- whether or not they could have done something to get us out of it is a
completely different matter - and someone else should come up to bat. Perhaps
most Canadians felt this way too. I remember trying to bounce some ideas I was
ruminating about the campaign off my friends in school or over the phone while
we chatted, but to my surprise, most of my peers were uninterested. I
reminisced about my Chilean people, the kids, teens, adults and seniors all
waving flags and vocally supporting their candidates, as if a war was about to
break out. In Ottawa, some people, very few, would put up a sign on their lawns
showing a quiet support for their local candidate to represent their riding in
Parliament.

Jean Chrétien, the proposed repairman for Canada's economic engine

The much-anticipated election day
finally came along during a weekday, which happened to be a school night as
well. I was so excited to witness the process unfold on the special television
coverage, once more on CBC's The National with Peter Mansbridge. If you are not
Canadian, he was and still is The Newsman here in our primary news network. His
main competitor was Lloyd Robertson from CTV news who was not as successful in
appealing to the common viewer. I suddenly realized at first glance, I was
going to have to learn a lot about this process before the end of the night.
This night was also challenging for my dear father and his patience as he tried
to listen to the commentary as the results came in. I bombarded him with
questions as he himself was trying to understand beyond the basics that were
foreign to me. The screen resembled the minesweeper application on the early
versions of Windows, as different boxes popped up representing leading
candidates in different ridings I had never heard of. The numbers changed often
yet the trend was upward but sometimes the snapshots of candidates would be
reordered. I eventually connected the dots, noticing that the votes were still
being counted meaning that the leads were subject to change, explaining the
order of the candidate boxes in front of me. The first box is the one in the
lead, followed by the rest in descending order. As the results continued to
come in, I wanted to stay up until the very end to see the outcome of the
election first hand. This was not to be. I had to wake up early in the morning
for school leading my parents to dismiss me to my room. As I lay in my bed in
almost complete darkness, my eyes closed but my brain did not want to shut
down. I could not help myself from thinking about what world I would wake up to
the next day. After a restless night, I rose to a red morning with Jean
Chrétien winning a majority government. The magnitude of this win was beyond my
understanding as well as what the result meant for the conservatives partially
due to the new parties causing vote splitting against them. The results were
177 seats for the Liberals, 54 for the Bloc (the first time a secessionist
party was leader of the official opposition), 52 for the Reform, 9 for the NDP
and only 2 for the PC. This was the beginning of the end for the Progress Conservatives and their rich palmarès.